Oral Contraceptive Not Related To Birth Defects Risk

In a new study, conducted by the researchers of Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health and Statens Serun Institute, Denmark have found that oral contraceptives which are taken by women before or during pregnancy do not increase the risk of birth defects.

It has been found by the researchers that the prevalence of most of the birth defects was consistent. Brittany Charlton, the first author and researcher in the Harvard Chan School department of Epidemiology and instructor of Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital said that women who become pregnant either soon after stopping oral contraceptives, or during the period of taking them, should know that this exposure is not likely to cause their fetus to develop a birth defect. Women and their health care providers should be reassured by this.

If oral contraceptives are used perfectly, they could be 99 percent effective. About 10 percent of women who use oral contraceptives become pregnant in the first year. A lot of women stop taking oral contraceptives when they plan a pregnancy within a few months. Researchers have known little about the potential health risk to children from an utero exposure to the hormones in oral contraceptives.

The researchers studies 880,694 live-born babies and the health of these children at one year follow-up. They estimated oral contraceptive use based on the date of mother's most recently filled prescription.

Among the women participated in the study, one fifth had never used oral contraceptives before pregnancy, and more than two-thirds had stopped taking oral contraceptives at least three months before their pregnancy. Almost 8 percent of women had discontinued use within three months of their pregnancy. After becoming pregnant, 1 percent or more than 10,000 women had used oral contraceptives.

Oral contraceptives are preparations of female sex hormones that are taken orally. There are different types of oral pills-

1. Micro or Mini pill: These pills contain progestogen only.

2. Combined pill: It contains both progestogen and oestrogen.

3. Sequential pill: For the first two weeks, it contains estrogen only and for the subsequent weeks, it contains both oestrogen and progestogen.

4. Post Coital pill: It contains a large dose of diathylstilboesterol.